


Father to Son

by mittamoo



Category: Emmerdale
Genre: Break Up, Gen, Infidelity, Prompt Fill
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-25
Updated: 2017-05-25
Packaged: 2018-11-04 21:19:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,681
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10999197
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mittamoo/pseuds/mittamoo
Summary: Aaron misses Paddy and Paddy misses Aaron, together they begin to mend the rift in their relationship





	Father to Son

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Lobotomite](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lobotomite/gifts).



> For a prompt from Lobotomite: I would love to see Aaron and Paddy move towards proper reconciliation (ideally involving a convo after Aaron leaves Robert.  
> I'm not sure if this is exactly what you had in mind but I hope you enjoy it none the less

It happens when Aaron is laying in a hospital bed with a lacerated liver and a splitting headache that Paddy comes in. Frankly he looks terrible, his face is bruised up and his arm in a sling. For once Paddy looks starkly old and if he was being honest with himself he’d never really thought about that before now. Although Aaron doesn’t think he has all that much room to talk about someone looking like death warmed over considering he had literally died for a while the day before. Paddy looks more than a little shell-shocked, he feels guilty that Paddy has had to worry about both him and Rhona.

“I almost lost you” Paddy’s voice is choked up, like the words hurt him to even say, its times like this Aaron is reminded of how much Paddy loves him.

“You didn’t though” and Aaron wants to say more but he’s never been a man of words and the drugs that he’s on make everything more than a little muddled, the words he did say seeming to slur into one.

They don’t talk much after that, well Aaron doesn’t talk much after that. The most accurate way to describe the situation that they were in right now was that Paddy was talking at him while Aaron did his level best not to fall asleep. What eventually grabs his focus is Paddy going silent and completely still. He’s staring at Aaron’s hand with a deep frown set into his face, it feel like the beginning of a fight. Aaron really doesn’t want to fight not when he’s just started to get Paddy back into his life again.

“Don’t” it’s hard not to hear the plea in his own voice,

“I can’t say I’m pleased-“

“Paddy please, I love him okay?” If he was pleading before now he was downright begging. _Please don’t make him choose between his dad and the man he loves._

“Aaron, I won’t lie to you, I’m not thrilled about this but I’ll support you no matter what”

At that he leans forward and brushes his hair back, it’s nice. It isn’t long before Paddy starts talking about utter rubbish again. It reminds him a little of mornings when he and Paddy had still lived together where Paddy would talk and talk to fill the silence, it had irritated him more than a little bit back then but not now. Listening to Paddy telling tales about the vet’s surgery, Aaron can’t help but let his eyes close and drift back into sleep.

*****

A little before Christmas Aaron finds the packages, they’re laid out of the table in the backroom one larger and soft, the second small, square and solid. They’re wrapped in bright and gaudy Christmas paper and everything about it just screams _Paddy_. Aaron would be lying if he said that the gesture didn’t make him smile. It’s good to know that even though Paddy has been keeping his distance that he still cares, that he loves Aaron enough to send them something for Christmas. If the wrapping paper was enough to make him smile, the card makes his face spilt in two.

_To Aaron, Liv and Robert I guess,_

_I know that I haven’t been there the way that I should have been this past year, but that’s going to change. I’m going to make more of an effort and spend time with you because you’re my family too._

_Merry Christmas, Lots of love Paddy x_

The distain Paddy has for Robert is clear, and will likely never go away completely, but at least he was trying for Aaron’s sake and that’s more than he ever could of wished for, more that he deserved if Aaron was going to go down that route. Today was a happy day though so Aaron wasn’t going to go down that route, not for now at least. He puts the card straight up onto the shelf with the other cards that the family had gotten over the past few weeks. Aaron thinks that the card is a little to special just to bung on the shelf with the others. He doesn’t move it though.

When it’s finally time to open the gifts he can’t wait. All three of them are sitting in his room on the bed with the gifts between them, the bigger one for him and Robert and the smaller one Liv’s. Liv goes first, tearing at the paper with little ceremony. Aaron has to bite back a laugh when he sees what it is and another one at the truly indignant look on his baby sister’s face. _A One Direction CD._ Aaron’s the one who opens his and Rob’s present, with a little more restraint than Liv. Barely. Inside there are two Christmas Jumpers, they’re from Marks’ and some of the ugliest things Aaron has ever seen. He loves them.

“I’m not putting that on” Robert sounds almost as offended as Liv had look before,

“Yes you are” and then as if to prove his point, Aaron pulls one of the jumpers up over his head before grinning at the two of them in mock triumph.

*****

Aaron doesn’t actually see Paddy until two days after he’s released from prison. He’s still on edge all the time and he’s got a hell of a sleep debt to pay back but above else he is absolutely fucking ecstatic to be free and back with his husband even if Robert has been off since he got back. When Paddy sneaks up on him though he doesn’t feel free at all. When he feels the hand on his back he swings for the person on instinct and, thankfully narrowly misses Paddy’s jaw. He doesn’t want to imagine what Paddy must think of him now, not even a week out of prison and already throwing punches. Paddy doesn’t look disappointed though, just concerned. Aaron isn’t sure what he’s supposed to do with that. Never does when people are concerned for him.

At the same time Aaron is glad Paddy is here now, because Aaron has been so scared these past few days because even though logically he knows that he’s free now, that he’s safe. Aaron is still waiting for threats around every corner, still waiting for Jason to drag him back to _that cell._ So in a way Aaron is relieved that Paddy is here because Paddy is like a dad to him. Paddy has to know how to make this better. For once Paddy doesn’t say anything, not like he usually does, simultaneously making things better and worse with his stumbling words. Instead he leads him inside by the arm before turning to face him.

“Talk to me” it isn’t a request,

“I had- I had a hard time, in prison I mean” This time it seems that its Aaron’s turn to have his sentences falter and fall over one another.

“Well I can see that!” Paddy’s voice is exasperated so Aaron needs to try harder

“A really hard time, they uh. They uh-“ the words are getting stuck in a loop about his head

“They what, Aaron?”

“They knew who I was- that I was, was Gordon’s son. They knew him, Gordon”

Paddy doesn’t speak for a while and Aaron panics because Paddy has to be angry with him now. Aaron should have just sucked it up and dealt with it like a normal person would. He shouldn’t have self-destructed and he shouldn’t be so scared now. A hand rests on his back again, then it reaches over his shoulders and pulls him in close to Paddy.

“There has to be a law against that!” Paddy sounds outraged but if Aaron is reading this right, not at him.

He contents himself to soak up Paddy’s comfort, there isn’t any talk of fixing him straight away. Paddy doesn’t tell him that he should be over this, Gordon is dead after all. There’s just Paddy with his arm wrapped tight around Aaron’s shoulders. It’s validating in a way, the quiet support confirming to him. _That shouldn’t have happened, you have every right to be upset._

*****

The smoke has barely settled when Paddy lets himself in through The Mill’s front door. Of course Paddy has already heard what had happened. Heard that his husband had cheated on him with Rebecca of all people, anyone else would have hurt less than this. But that was the point, wasn’t it? To hurt Aaron because they’d fought and because Aaron had deserved it. He’s still sitting at the kitchen table when Paddy appears in the door. This is what Paddy had wanted, his relationship to crash and burn.

“Go on then” Aaron hadn’t meant to sound so angry but now that he’s started he isn’t going to stop “Say it! I know you want to! Go on say it. Say I told you so then”

Aaron knows what he must look like. Sat alone in a dark kitchen, red faced and glassy eyed. He’s got angry red marks on his arms from where he’d clawed at them with ragged nail. He’s bordering on hysterical now. He thinks he should at least be allowed that no matter how much he should have expected this. He had though Robert loved him after all.

“God Aaron, I’m so sorry” Paddy sounds sincere, like he really means it, Aaron hadn’t been expecting that.

So Aaron does what he always does when put under any kind of emotional strain, he cries. He cries because he’s weak and pathetic and every single bad thing anyone has ever said about him. He was just too stupid to see it, really see it before now. Paddy still hasn’t started gloating yet, instead Paddy wraps his arms around Aaron and pulls him into a hug. A real hug, one that’s so tight Aaron swear he can hear his bones creaking. It’s exactly what he needs right now. Because he might be standing in the rubble and devastation that his life has become but at least Paddy is here to help him pick up the pieces.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! feedback is always appreciated


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